The size of Marjory Stoneman Douglas Eagles
Baseball team Marjory Stoneman Douglas clinched another state championship, the third straight for the Eagles, which is an incredible feat in any part of the United States, but especially considering the stacked lineups they face in a highly competitive South Florida region .
However, in the time it took them to read that sentence, some – if not all – most likely lost the scale of the achievement because something along the lines of “Parkland Shootout” resonated in their minds.
(USA TODAY network)
There’s something repulsive about even bringing up such a tragedy and allowing it to share the national limelight with a championship run that included an unbeaten season, a first since 2017 in the Sunshine State and a first in South Florida history. yes history
But not to mention what happened on February 18, 2018, when 17 people were murdered by the hand of a gunman, ignores the larger storyline: Freshmen, seniors, and everyone in between on the Eagles 2023 roster and the Parkland community are It is only five years from the deadliest mass shooting in a high school of all time – a statistic that now exists and is ticking the media everyday as if it were part of the latest NYSE.
“No one here is really bringing it up,” pitcher Christian Rodriguez told dem Athletic’s Manny Navarro about this Valentine’s Day in 2018. “It’s just something that resonates.”
Applauding the strength it takes to recover from such an event – which now lives in the subconscious of the masses as a reminder of the horrors students endure on a daily basis – should get everyone on their feet. A standing O
Then another standing O…
Etc.
And while the inspirational story would have been perfectly acceptable if the final chapter had quietly ended with a lesson in progress and just putting on your boots and blasting between the lines, the Eagles baseball team didn’t just show up at the stadium; They have dismantled teams in recent years and have an 87-5 record, including 51 straight wins.
They finished the year as the country’s No. 1 team and national champions for that period.
In 2023, the Eagles hit 35 home runs. That’s two more runs than the pitching team gave up all year (33). comebacks? They didn’t last past the third inning in any game this season.
And when it came time to wrap up that current run, the team delivered and took their third state championship title.
Impressive? Maybe it’s just because you have top-notch talent?
As Ted Williams famously said of The New York Times, “I’ve always said that batting a baseball is the hardest thing in the sport.”
It’s harder to excel at it while bringing inspiration and positivity to a community and beyond.
